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A member of a Broome County heroin trafficking operation was sentenced Thursday to spend eight years in state prison.

David J. Mikulski, 35, of Binghamton, admitted in Broome County Court that he played a role in an operation that trafficked more than $100,000 worth of heroin into the county between April and July in 2016. The near-maximum sentence was handed down Thursday for his plea to a felony count of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

District Attorney Steve Cornwell said his office plans to keep coming down hard on "big-time drug dealers" in the county.

Mikulski was among three defendants indicted under the state's “kingpin” statute after July 28 drug raids in Broome County that netted seven people and some $40,000 worth of seized heroin.

Prosecutors say 2,700 bags of heroin and $38,000 in suspected drug proceeds were found in the raids.

The major trafficker charge carried a minimum penalty of 15 years to life in state prison, if the defendants had been convicted of it. The drug sale charge Mikulski admitted to carried a potential sentence of up to nine years in prison.

In previous interviews, Cornwell said pursuing such a high-level charge against defendants in this case enabled prosecutors to secure plea agreements that called for stiffer penalties than bringing lesser drug felonies.

The heroin trafficking ring was directed by Terrence "Money" Wise, 37, of Endwell, according to prosecutors. Cornwell called it one of Broome County's "most calculated" drug enterprises.

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Police seized 2,700 bags of heroin with a street value of $40,000 and about $38,000 in cash during raids July 28 in Broome County.(Photo: Anthony Borrelli / Staff photo)

Court papers accused Wise of directing the sale of heroin at multiple times and locations in Broome County, including near schools, between April and July. Authorities dubbed the investigation leading to arrests of Wise and others as "Operation Get Money."

According to prosecutors, the drug operation was going on for at least a year before the July 28 takedown. Investigators kept busy, though, building the case through undercover drug purchases and other tactics.

Wise, the last of the seven defendants to admit guilt, is expected to be sentenced in February for felony counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal sale of a controlled substance on or near school grounds.